Fare you well
by Chitilada
Summary: After Merlin has gone missing under mysterious circumstances Arthur begins to act oddly. What does he want to hide so badly? Please give it a try! R&R No Slash! Chapter 5 is up!
1. Chapter 1

NOT MADE FOR PROFIT! ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO THE BBC!

**Fare you well **

Chapter One

Silently hundreds of raindrops made their way down the window surface. Arthur stood in front of the window and watched them as they did so. He sighed heavily. It had been raining for days now and it didn't seem to stop. He didn't know how and why it all had happened. It just had, and he

couldn't change it any more.

Merlin has gone.

He still expected his clumsy manservant to bounce into his chambers without knocking, and asking if Arthur wants him to do something. But that was in the past and the prince had to look ahead now. Had to keep going on without his trusted friend. "Arthur?", a concerned voice asked behind him. "Are you all right?" The prince turned around to look into Morgana's worried eyes. He wasn't able to answer, he just stared back. Then she reached out for his hands. " Whatever it is... you can tell me. You know you can trust me, don't you?" Arthur nodded. " I do." He forced a little smile to touch his lips. " All right. You know where to find me, just in case you want to talk." Morgana turned to go, but before she'd reached the door of Arthur's chambers she looked back for the last time. "And Arthur? I understand you're a little upset about Merlin's sudden leaving, but it has been his free choice. Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault that he's gone!" Morgana gave him a last hopeful gaze and left the room.

"You are wrong, Morgana." Arthur said under his breath. "You can never understand."

The day after the rain began to soften a little. So the young Prince tried to remove all the bad memories from his head and concentrated on his daily outdoor sword practise . He succeeded actually; until the moment he saw the Court Physician Gaius in passing, probably in quest of new herbs, he always needed to make his potions and remedies. Arthur didn't know anything about this stuff. But something else caught his attention. The old man was pale and it seemed as though he was troubled. The Prince also knew what it was. Merlin. Gaius was worried about Merlin. He hadn't returned back to Camelot for days now. Since that heavy rain had begun.

"How are you getting along, Arthur?" His father, King Uther, asked when they were having dinner together. "What do you mean?" Arthur was obviously a little confused. " With finding a new man servant, of course. Is there someone you could imagine to hire, yet?" Yeah, right. How could he forget? " No... they're all just... boot lickers. And they all would jump out of the window without hesitating if I told them to. But I'll keep searching." Arthur answered quickly. He wasn't in the mood for long explanations. Uther nodded. "You'll better do this."

This night Arthur had a nightmare.

_It was still raining heavily and the young Prince began to wonder whether even in his dreams this damn rain was chasing him. He was in a forest. And he recognised this place as the DarkForest south of Camelot where he sometimes was used to go on a hunting trip with Merlin. Arthur cringed at the thought of his erstwhile manservant. _

_He began to make his way through the closely standing trees, at first hesitantly, but then it seemed as though a strength pushed him forward. It led Arthur to a clearing. That place seemed pretty familiar to the young Prince. He'd been on this clearing just recently. Suddenly somebody yelled his name. _

"_Arthur!"_

_Surprised he turned around, but he wasn't able to see clearly through the rain. But the Prince was sure he knew this voice. _

"_Arthur!"_

_There was this voice again. "Can't you see me? I'm right here!" Arthur swung around. There was nobody. "Who are you?" The Prince shouted into the nothingness. "Now, now! You've forgotten me that quickly?" Now it sounded like this someone, whom the voice belonged to, stood directly behind Arthur's back. Finally the Prince rolled over... and recoiled at the sight that was now revealed to him._

"_Surprise!" _

* * *

I'm sorry if there are some mistakes in it. I'm not a native english speaker, but I'm doing my best :)

I will update soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Cliocat: Thanks for telling me about the mistake :) I'm surprised that it's only one.

I'm glad you liked it so far... now here is the next chapter (my fave one so far)

**Chapter 2**

"_Surprise!" _

_Merlin smirked. It wasn't the usual smirk Arthur was used to but rather an evil-minded grin. _

"_Merlin... but, how..., you were gone!" _

_Merlin cut him short._

"_I never have gone! Can't you see me?"_

_Arthur was puzzled, he just kept staring at his opponent. _

"_Well, actually , I am not astonished at all. You have never been able to see me. To see me for who I really am! Oh...I'm sorry. You prefer, who I really _was_?__"_

_Merlin began to circle Arthur like a hungry lion circles his prey, ready to strike it down in the next second. Arthur watched him closely as he did so, he was completely overwhelmed by this situation. _

"_What do you want?" _

"_Since when do you care about what I want?" Merlin asked harshly. _

"_No, Arthur Pendragon. Now I'm taking care of my destiny myself..."_

_The Prince hardly understood a word. "What destiny? What are you talking about?" Now Merlin stopped circling. _

"_It doesn't matter any more. I have failed. I can't fulfil my destiny, that´s why I just have changed my purpose."_

_A confused expression appeared on Arthur's face. He didn't get it._

"_And what is your purpose then?" _

_The Prince knew it was bloody stupid to ask Merlin this question right now and as Merlin's face seem to freeze he was on the brink of regretting it. But Merlin even did answer his question. _

_,, You are never going to change, Arthur Pendragon. You want to know about my current purpose...? Well, I don' t want to be awkward then. As we all can see my previous concern was to make sure that you, the legendary Prince Arthur of Camelot, are all right. Letting no harm come to you. Be a good, loyal servant, even a friend to you. But like you've already said. I have gone and all that is no longer of great importance to me. I am sorry, my friend. Now there is nobody left who will be foolish enough to protect you."_

_Merlin smiled again. A bitter smile. _

"_Merlin..." Arthur began desperately. "I don't know what..."_

_He was interrupted again. _

" _...what to say? If you don't know what to say then better keep quiet! But I can tell you something... I will be chasing you in your dreams, I will become the most dreadful nightmare you've ever had in your entire life!" _

_Merlin almost screamed the last words, then suddenly he lowered his voice._

"_Until you remember..."_

_Abruptly the scene flickered heavily - everything went black._

_The next second Arthur found himself standing in the middle of the clearing beside something lying on the ground._

_It was Merlin. The prince went one step closer... and what he saw made him gasp._

_His erstwhile servant was lying there, doubled up. On his chest appeared a bloody wound that probably had been caused by someone running him through with a sword. The wound was deep and still bleeding freely. _

"_What on earth...?" _

_The young Prince backed away from Merlin, too shocked to take another look. _

"_No... this can't be!" he stammered. _

_Then suddenly the presumed dead manservant opened his icy blue eyes. _

Reviews? ;)

I'll update soon!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everybody!

Thanks for all your nice comments! :)

Everyone prepared for chapter 3? Here you go:

**Chapter 3**

_Then suddenly the presumed dead manservant opened his icy blue eyes. They were widened in agony and showed pure fear. "Why... did you... do this?" Merlin gasped. He was obviously struggling for breath. "Why?" His voice broke off again. _

_Arthur was thunderstruck. He couldn't think straight any more, his thoughts got mixed up and they became more like fuzzy visions dancing through his mind. "I must be dreaming..." The young Prince stammered timidly. "There's no other explanation."_

"_Arthur, you betrayed me...! I trusted you!" Accusingly and deeply hurt Merlin stared up to him, now stumbling backwards, his face being distorted to a panic-stricken mask. _

"_Arthur!"_

_At last Arthur found the strength to force his legs to obey him completely and he started running. Merlin cried his name again, this time even more desperately. But Arthur ignored his erstwhile manservant's frantic screams...he just wanted to bring as much space between himself and Merlin as possible . _

_If this all was just a dream, wasn't he supposed somehow to wake up? Arthur thought heading for the DarkForest. He just wanted to flee this nightmare... to flee the memory. The wood was now only a few paces away as Arthur at once caught his foot on something lying in front of him, causing him to sprawl down to the ground. He instantly bobbed up again with a surprising yelp, as he'd realised what had caused him to fall down. _

"_You cannot escape me!" a too familiar voice whispered in his head._

_Gasping Arthur stared stunned at the deadly wounded Merlin and a cry of desperation escaped the Prince's lips. _

"_You are not real!" _

"_You cannot escape. Not after everything you've done to me." Merlin's threat resounded in his mind over and over again._

"_Leave me alone!"_

_Then everything went black._

Suddenly Arthur awoke with a start.

Breathing unsteady and quickly he sat up and looked around. He was in his chambers, the curtains were closed and even though the sun already had to be risen, no shaft of sunlight found its way into Arthur's room. The annoying patter of rain was the only sound to hear.

"It was all just a dream..." he tried to calm himself. " Just a dream..."

Wiping away the sweat from his brow, Arthur tried to forget about his nightmare, with no success.

The shock was still too deep.

But there was no reason to be scared. Merlin couldn't harm him, could he? At least not in his dreams and it was for sure, he would not be able to come back.

With this mindset Arthur was confident that nobody was ever going to find out what really had happened.

Maybe there are some mistakes in it...

Reviews? :)


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for all your reviews! :)

I am soooo sorry that I took so long! Was a little busy in the last week, had loads of exams and stuff like that.

Here you go:

**Chapter 4**

"Arthur?"

The young Prince just had finished dressing up ( alone of course, he still hasn't found a new manservant) when Gaius entered the room. "I'm sorry for just bolting in, Sire, but the door was ajar."

"Gaius, you were the last one I've expected to see in my chambers. But... what´s the matter?"

"Arthur, as you know Merlin's missing for a few days now..." The Physician began hesitantly and it was conspicuous that Merlin's disappearance was grieving him. " I just wanted to know... well, you were the last one who's seen him before he left. I was wondering if you might know something about it?"

" I'm sorry, I don't. His leaving was as much surprising for me as it was for you. I can't make a sense of it myself."

Arthur had tried to make his voice trustworthy and to lower his soaring pulse while letting an encouraging smile touch his lips.

"Don't worry Gaius. I'm sure he's fine."

" I hope so. But why did he left? I thought he was pleased with coming to Camelot. He always seemed so happy… . If something had been wrong with him I must have noticed. In the last few weeks there was a lot to do even so I should have looked out for him better. "

Arthur couldn't bare watching this old man sinking in feelings of guilt any longer, so he put an end to that.

"Gaius... _you _are not to blame."

The physician sighed and eventually nodded. He avoided to look into Arthur's eyes because he supposed the Prince probably must be missing Merlin as much as he did. Maybe even more.

"I'm sorry, Sire. I just worry about him a lot."

"We all do." Arthur responded.

"But what if he 's fallen victim to a crime or if he's had an accident and needs help? I couldn't live with myself never having tried to find him."

Arthur felt how the intensity inside of him grew again steadily. But then he had an idea. Comforting he laid his hands on Gaius' shoulders.

" Just calm down. Today I will have a search party out in the woods looking for Merlin and I will do everything in my power to find him. I promise you, I'm going to bring him back no matter the cost."

Gratefully and a little relieved the old man bowed his head. " Thank you, Sire. I'm glad Merlin can call such a caring person, as you are, his friend." Then he left, having faint hope that Merlin will soon come back to him. Well and unharmed.

After Gaius had closed the door, Arthur tore his hair. That was the last thing he needed. He had not known what else to say therefore he'd promised to search for Merlin. But there was no reason for the old man to know that the Prince never had the intention to send out a search party, was there? Why should he?

In the next few days nobody mentioned Merlin in Arthur´s present. He had them all believe that he was too upset about the loss of his manservant that he wanted to be left alone. Also the so-called search party was never sent by Arthur, everybody knew this. Except Gaius, as the Prince had forbidden everyone to talk to Gaius about this little "secret". And his father? Well, he never had cared about Merlin, so he didn't inquired after him at all.

Gradually Arthur got this situation under control and everything seemed to go back to normal. If there hadn´t been the damn rain.

This day the King came to the conclusion that this constant rain couldn't be normal at last. It must had something to do with sorcery. Gaius was the only one who cringed at this thought, not because he was afraid of magic but rather worried that someone could discover Merlin's secret.

Arthur watched the Court Physician closely as he left the throne room quickly. If he still hadn't known the truth, the Prince wouldn't have waste any extra look at the old man's weird behaviour, but now everything had changed.

After a few unspectacular nights Arthur dreamt himself back to the well-known clearing.

_The cold air seemed pretty thick and embraced the young Prince like a wall. Somehow he knew what had to come next and he was sure he would bounce back this time. Still this was his dream and he was determined not to let Merlin gain the upper hand again._

"_Merlin! Show yourself!" he shouted into the nothingness. "I know you are here. So don't be a coward!" _

"_You call me a coward? You are very brave for such a pathetic human, Arthur Pendragon." Merlin, who had appeared out of thin air, smirked. "It's a pleasure meeting you again." _

"_Same here." Arthur answered sarcastically. "Why did you brought me back to this place? Spit it out!" _

"_Now, now. Where are your good manners? Do I need a reason to talk with an old friend?" _

_Arthur watched his movements straight faced. _

"_You did not answer my question. Why am I here?" _

_Merlin didn't respond. He only laughed and acted as if he was thinking of the right answer._

"_Answer me!" The Prince's patience was wearing thin._

_Suddenly Merlin's face darkened. His expression made Arthur's blood run cold._

"_You know damn well, why you are here!" Slowly he started moving towards the Prince, who kept himself in place, didn't even allow himself to blink. "Stop denying it! I can read your mind, Arthur. You know what happened in that night but you're too weak, too pathetic to admit it!"_

_Merlin stopped only inches before Arthur's strained face, locking eyes with him. _

"_Don't know what you're talking about..." _

_The Prince was startled how shaky his voice had sounded._

_Merlin kept a straight face. _

"_I am not surprised." was his only comment while turning around and walking away from Arthur. Then he came to a stop but still having his back turned to the young Prince._

_Instinctively Arthur reached out for his sword. _

Sorry for the cliffhanger. Hope you liked it and hope you'll forgive me possible mistakes.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys, I am so so sorry for not having updated for such a long time! I hope there are still some readers out there who would like to see my story continued.

Without further ado: here comes chapter 5!

**Chapter 5**

_Instinctively Arthur reached out for his sword. It was his turn to act now and he would put an end to all of this. _

_But to his shock, his hand grasped at nothing._

_That was when Merlin started to laugh. With horror Arthur watched him slowly turning around, holding the Prince's well formed blade in his hands. _

"_Are you looking for this?" Merlin asked sardonically while letting his fingers wander over the ornate hilt. "It's a fine sword, indeed."_

"_Give it back!" Arthur demanded. _

"_Or what? You will attack me to get it back and in the end run me through with it?" Merlin asked with a chuckle. "Would be a funny déjà-vu, wouldn't it? But I'm not as stupid as I might look, you know. Even I have learned a lesson from my earlier mistakes."_

_Suddenly Merlin held out his hand, his eyes turning gold for a second and with a surprised yelp Arthur was rushed off his feet. An imaginary force took hold of him, hurled him up and made him crash into one of the nearby standing trees. _

_The hard impact forced the air out of his lungs and a flood of nausea swept through his body as his head collided with the trunk of an old oak before he slipped to the ground._

_Arthur viciously fought against the urge to let the comforting unconsciousness take control of his mind and tried to ignore the throbbing pain and to keep his gaze sharp in case Merlin was going to attack again._

_But he wasn´t. Merlin just stood there unemotional, watching the Prince while he tried to get on his feet again. He could clearly see the anger flashing in Arthur's eyes. The hate. Once the Prince stood again he was making his way towards Merlin, who had an unbelieving expression on his face. Arthur wasn´t exactly sure, but he seemed as though he was disappointed. _

"_You really don't get it, do you?" Merlin sighed, not letting Arthur out of his sight. Slowly Merlin brought up his hand again, pointing at Arthur with his palm. This made the Prince stop in an instant. What was he up to? _

"_It was my job to protect you, Arthur Pendragon, to make sure that you will one day become the great King I know you will be. I'm afraid I have failed you, since I cannot help you any more and for that I am really sorry. But there´s one thing left for me to do: I want you to remember..."_

_He directed his hands towards the sky and whispered something in a language Arthur couldn't understand. Again Merlin's blue eyes flashed golden before his look wandered back to the Prince, who stood there thunderstruck. That was when the first cold raindrops hit them, washing away the oppressive tension in the air. Neither moved or said something while the rain began to slowly soak through their clothes. But they didn't care._

_Arthur almost forgot to breath... he kept his eyes fixed on Merlin, standing there in the rain, regarding him with an unreadable expression. Then Merlin´s features softened and he began to speak again:_

"_I've always told you, Arthur: I will be loyal to you. Till the end of time even, as you are the one my kin has waited for such a long time. Don't keep them waiting any longer by becoming a magic-fearing King, like your father, and continue the war against sorcery. I may not be part of this story any more, but you still are and once you are King it is within your power to change this land into a peaceful one, where neither man nor woman has to fear for their beloved ones to be accused of magic and executed for crimes they have not committed."_

_For a second everything Merlin had said seemed to make sense for the young Prince. When he becomes King he can rule how he wants to and not how he is told to by his father. Surely he would try to solve problems better than his father had done before, yet this didn´t mean that the ban on magic would be lifted._

"_Why are you so sure everything´s going to change then? Magic is and will stay outlawed. It has proven enough times to be a uncontrollable power that only leads to destruction and death!"_

"_Please, believe me when I say that magic is neither good nor evil. It is how you use it." Merlin tried to explain._

"_Then why are you doing this? Using your magic and hunting me in my dreams like that?"Arthur countered. _

_A brief smile appeared on Merlin's lips, shortly followed by a sudden mask of anger and disappointment._

"_It may surprise you, but it's the only way left for me to communicate with you."_

_This was like a slap in Arthur´s face._

_And suddenly the huge wall he had built inside of his mind started to crumbled and an unstoppable flood of memories began to wash over him:_

_The sun burning hot on his skin – that too familiar clearing – Merlin shouting something - a warning – someone pressing him hardly on the ground – a burst of energy – a man sent flying - a sudden rage inside him – his sword glistening in his hand - a soundless scream_

_Arthur´s world went spinning till he seemed to lose the ground under his feet._

_Then he knew no more._

Criticism and reviews appreciated! :)


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